Bright Day Yoga

On this blog, we’ve covered what to do with a dark day, a sad day, a frustrating day but we haven’t touched on what to do with a bright day. Not every day is about overcoming struggles but it’s a lot easier to ignore the good days. Isn’t it? So, what do you do when the sun is shining, you’re feeling good, and it’s nice and warm out?

ENJOY IT!

Really though, focus on the good. Make a conscious effort to go out and experience the day.

It’s important that we carve out the time necessary to celebrate the beautiful days. So often we get stuck in this loop of focusing and dwelling on the bad days, the clouds, the rain. We ignore the beautiful days because it’s easy. We get excited to see the sun for a day or two then forget about it. We take it for granted.

Part of our yoga practice is mindfulness. What does that mean? A lot of things! There’s a really great article about this that goes into wonderful detail on what mindfulness is, which I will not be doing today. To surmise, it’s about being in the present moment and experiencing that present moment whatever it is. This day is here, now. It’s not here tomorrow. It wasn’t here yesterday. The breeze right now might not be there an hour later. Right? And that’s not a bad thing. It just means that we have to take advantage of the weather right now and not twenty minutes or two hours from now. If not today, when?

If you don’t seize the moment now, what makes you think you’ll do it later?

That’s what practicing mindfulness boils down to for me. If I don’t live in the moment right now, why do I think I’ll do it later? I won’t. I’ll continue being stuck in the same cycle over and over again. I won’t be as fulfilled. I won’t be able to enjoy my life as much as I want to.

I have the luxury (or curse) of being able to work from home most days as a writer. This means that I have the ability to go outside, edit and write in the nice weather. I have the ability to shift my schedule around to practice yoga a little later or earlier than normal. However, I also have curse of being lazy and ready to sit on my butt in one spot all day. Not so optimal.

Generally, I don’t share my daily routines because it’s very important that you find your own routine that works well for you. But for today, I’ll let you in on how I chose to celebrate the wonderful weather the other day. And how I’ll try again today.

I woke up nice and early, did some morning yoga in the house but in and facing the sun with my eyes closed. I like practicing with my eyes closed for my morning routine to focus on the sensations the morning has brought me. Stiffness, breath, sunshine on my face all stand out more prominently when my eyes are shut.

From there, I’ll grab some coffee, maybe a book and head outside to read in the cool morning air. If it’s a little too chilly for my liking, sometimes it is, I’ll sit at a table with book and breakfast with the windows open so I still get that fresh outside air.

Then, of course, I’ll write inside for awhile by the windows. When I’ve gotten enough done inside, chores included, I’ll grab all my stuff and head outside. I’ll sit in the sun, or the shade, (with sunscreen ON) and work the rest of the morning/afternoon out there. Sounds pretty nice so far, right?

After I finish my work for the day, should be just after lunch, I’ll reapply my sunscreen and go for a run. I definitely get to practice positive mindfulness there. Just me and nature. No music, no podcast. Nothing in my ears besides the sound of my feet against the pavement and the sounds outside.

Then one of my favorite parts. I’ll bring some lemon water and protein shake outside with me, roll out my mat, and practice yoga beneath the warm sun. I love doing this. Like the video posted today, I start out with sun salutations. This is a literal way to warm up the body and say hello to the sun. Each cobra or updog, I let a gentle smile tug at my lips. With an occasional breeze flowing like the one yesterday, I can catch a wave of my breath as I come up to half back and really feel like a part of this living, breathing universe. My breath moves me just as the wind moves the air, the trees, the world around me.

Mindfulness is all about uniting the body, the spirit, the everything together. Practicing outside helps me accomplish this goal. I am connected to the present. I am tied to it. I am grounded in the present moment of the Earth. The earth is connected to me. It’s beautiful!

Check out how beautiful this sunset is. This is where I’ll end my hours with light, or at least how I did on that particular day. I sat in my sunroom and watched the sun crawl below the horizon, painting the sky as it did so.

I didn’t have to make such a conscious effort to celebrate the day, but I did. It’s important to me to live in the moment and enjoy the beauty it brings me. It’s important to me to appreciate the serenity, the power, and the drop dead gorgeousness of nature. It’s important that I stop my habits and adapt myself and my mind to be able to go out into the world and CELEBRATE the nice weather! It’s here today and it might not be tomorrow.

So, when you’re practicing my Bright Day Yoga Flow (which you should), I encourage you to do it by a window, in a park, in your backyard. I encourage you to open up yourself to nature and the inherent love it brings.